| Wearing high-heeled shoes would change the body alignment and redistribute the plantar stresses, which may induce problems, such as forefoot pain, hallux valgus and callus. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of high-heeled shoe on the foot biomechanical environment, including in-shoe plantar pressures and shear stresses, ground reaction force and foot motion patterns, when frictional properties of foot-insole interface and walking cadences changed.;Ten subjects volunteered in this study. Five in-shoe triaxial force transducers were used to measure the plantar pressure and shear at the hallux, heel, first, second and fourth metatarsal heads. A multi-segment foot model was constructed to analyze the high-heeled gait kinematics. Experiments were carried out with 3 heel heights (30, 50 and 70 mm), 3 interfacial conditions (barefoot, nylon and cotton socks) under 3 cadences (90, 110, 130 steps/min).;Shear stresses could be of particular importance with an inclined surface of high-heeled shoe. The ratios of resultant shear to pressure ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 and increased over the heel, hallux, first and second metatarsal heads. An increased peak posterolateral shear over hallux was noted. Location and time of occurrence were different between in-shoe peak pressure and shear. There were significant differences in time for the double-peak loading pattern between resultant horizontal ground reaction force peaks and in-shoe localized peak shears. Nylon socks reduced the shear stresses over forefoot region, while they increased the shear stress over heel. A deep insight into the characteristic of plantar stresses should consider the interface frictional properties combined with shoe construction and subjects' activities.;Kinematic results showed that hallux had a more abducted motion wearing high-heeled shoes. When heel height increased to 70 mm, the foot had the permanent ankle plantarflexion and rearfoot inversion during the whole stance phase. Cadence mainly affected the motion of rearfoot in sagittal plane and sock material mainly changed the motion of the medial forefoot in frontal plane.;Current studies inspected the relationship between shoe construction and foot biomechanics, which could be useful in understanding foot function changes in high-heeled shoes. The information is essential to improve shoe designs and manage the high-heeled pathologies. |
